


Before Bed

by Entwinedlove



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU - Repealed Statute of Secrecy, Cuddling, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 09:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21318295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Charlie and Maria have a nightly tradition.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley/Maria Hill
Kudos: 5
Collections: Entwinedlove's Marvelously Magical Bingo 2019, Marvelously Magical Bingo 2019





	Before Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Marvelously Magical Bingo, fills square G2 - Cuddling

"My neck hurts."

Charlie didn't think anything about reaching down and working his fingers along Maria's neck. She hummed with contentment and flipped the page of her book. Charlie smiled and started reading the page over her shoulder.

Charlie Weasley had met Maria when she worked for Tony Stark. Stark had wanted to know more about everything the Wizarding World had to offer after the Global Wizarding Society had repealed the Statute of Secrecy. After apparently a whirlwind of overnight research that probably resembled a Hermione research binge, Tony Stark decided he wanted to know everything about dragons, and despite there being closer reserves, he'd picked the one in Romania as his first stop.

The Romanian Dragon Reserve that Charlie worked at wasn't typically open for visitors but that didn't stop Stark (the generous donation he provided probably saw to that.) Charlie had been elected to deal with the curious Muggles and Maria had been Stark's secretary. They spent more time together than either of them cared for at first. Charlie thought she was like Stark, only interested in the monetary advantages and benefits the Reserve could provide Stark Industries. She thought he was some "uneducated bumpkin with the body of a lumberjack and the beard to match." (He'd heard her talking on her mobile phone to one of her friends.)

Yet the longer they worked together, gathering data for Stark Industries, comparing notes about productivity, and most importantly, funding needed for keeping the dragons healthy, happy, with an emphasis on getting the beautiful creatures off the endangered list and educating the public, the more they started to see each other in a different way. She wasn't nearly as stuck up or uncaring as she first appeared and he proved that he wasn't some country bumpkin with no education. (Apparently, the lumberjack physique and beard had been positives.)

There'd been an accident at the Reserve that landed both of them on the dark end of a cavern cave in with a scared, cranky adolescent Welsh Green. They all got out with only a few bruises and burns after a gruelling thirty-six hours, but in that time, Charlie and Maria really got to know one another. Turns out friendships really are forged in dangerous situations.

"I'm ready to turn the page," Maria said, interrupting Charlie's reverie.

"Go ahead," he said, then he pressed a kiss to her temple. He enjoyed holding her close like this, even if her choice of reading material was dry today. Sometimes she read romance, which was delightful because it wasn't anything like the Wizarding romance he'd snuck from his mum's collection when he'd lived at the Burrow. It was a nightly ritual for them. Get ready for bed, cuddle, and read.

After another few pages, Charlie gave up reading and let his thoughts wander as he watched her. When she yawned for the second time, he hummed and tapped the back of the book with his knuckle. "Bedtime, I think," he whispered.

She nodded. She dog-eared the corner of her page and shifted only a little bit out of his arms to set the book on her bedside table. "Can you get the lights?"

"Of course," he teased gently. He wandlessly and wordlessly cast Nox and the room fell into semi-darkness. Maria snuggled further down the bed and Charlie pulled the duvet up over them, content to hold her through the night.


End file.
